Arts in Education

Creativity was at it's best this week as we talked about all the ways we can enjoy art in this world.  We learned about art in drawings, photographs and paintings as well as music in dance, singing and instruments and also storytelling through books and plays.

One of our science experiments involved using 'wind' to blow colors together to mix them.  We learned yellow and red make orange and blue and yellow make green and blue and red make purple.

We took turns trying out various instruments playing a version of musical chairs too.  When the music would stop, the preschoolers had to 'read' the sign they were standing on and choose the matching instrument to play in the next round.

The morning class cracked us up this week when they said they had been so busy they were too tired to learn and needed a nap.  So...we took one.  (For about 30 seconds.)  The kids said it wasn't long enough but we told them we had too much learning left to do. 

Once we 'woke up' we played a few table games by matching written words to pictures of dancers, instruments and artists as well as playing a memory matching game.
We completed some great math puzzles with Popsicle sticks and the children were able to see if they could correctly organize the pieces by placing them in order 1-10.  If the picture looked correct, then the children knew they were correct placing them in order.

Art is not just about paintings and pictures.  Our children learned the art of performance this week through their puppet shows and plays too.



During 'play' time, our children dressed up in costumes of their choosing then worked with the teachers to create a play.  
The play started out with some princesses about to have a banquet.  The chef entered and created some (teacher) pizza when all of the sudden, a fire broke out in the kitchen!  Firefighters rushed in to extinguish the flames and everyone celebrated eating a delicious meal. 

We have enjoyed at least 1 play every day this week as a part of free play since this first structured play.  Some of our preschoolers dress up as fairies and send the characters flying to India, Hawaii and Colorado.  


People get 'stuck in trees' and have to be rescued by fairies as well as fire fighters.  Encourage your children to create these plays at home with you, they will need help but will have great ideas and really show off their imagination to you.



We have moved on to the Number of the Day now and review the letters as they work on their new practice sheets.  Writing numbers is a skill many people forget about as most are focused on their letters.  The number of the day is a great way to start working on writing numbers and still reinforces writing letters on their practice sheets.

In the morning and afternoon classes we created free art while the preschoolers were allowed to paint anything they wanted.  Some painted roller coasters, others flowers or members of their families.  

Storytelling through books is another terrific way to encourage a love of reading. We have a few stories the children really enjoy about a dancing group of animals who call them selves The Jelly Beans and we sang along to the song in Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar? to try to solve the mystery in that book. (Spoiler Alert: the ants did it.)

The morning and afternoon enjoyed a favorite science experiment of mine called Moving Colors.  All you need to do this experiment at home is a bowl or tray with a little milk in it and food coloring and soap. 
Place a drop or two of various colors all over the tray of milk. Then, dipping your finger tip or a Q-tip in dish soap, touch the surface if the milk. As the surface tension on the milk is disrupted, the colors move to make a tie-dye affect. It's great!  The only down side is once you add the drop of soap, you need a new container to start over again. We use powdered milk to keep the cost down.

Remember "I Spy"? We played the BINGO version of it with the kids at stations  as we talked about the photographs on the BINGO cards.

We used shapes to create mosaic type pictures and our magnet shapes to create buildings and structures like architects would do when they create designs to be built.
We practiced making letters and shapes using our paint in a bag and in flour trays.  All you need is a dusting of flour, sugar, or salt in a flat tray or container and let your child practice drawing in the tray.  
You can show them letters to copy or just have them practice pointing to draw.  Either are good fine motor skills that will help in writing and cutting later on.

We tried out a new way to paint with Popsicles this year year and used paper cups to hold our water colored paint. We added a Popsicle stick into each cup and froze the paint overnight. The next day we took them out and unwrapped the frozen paint. The kids were able to try out this fun frozen "treat" in a new way. 
This would be great to do this summer if we get some warmer weather. Try even using it to paint your sidewalk!  New take on sidewalk art for sure!


The morning preschool has many five-year-olds. Therefore, they love organized games. Musical chairs is a favorite and the kids often ask for it. So, being the week for the arts we couldn't turn down a request for a musical game. 



We created musical instruments for you to enjoy at home. I'm sure the bead filled maracas bring you as much joy as we heard when 20 of them played at the same time this week!

Our science demo was to mix watercolor paint into clear jars to see how we use the primary colors to create secondary colors. 

After our demonstration, the kids went to the tables to mix colors themselves and review what we learned. They enjoyed seeing what colors they could create and often tried to mix them all together to get brown or black. 

Then, we read Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh. This book covers the mixing of primary colors as well as learning about how black and white darken or lighten red into maroon or pink.

We practiced using different tools to paint in the afternoon.  Preschoolers used chop sticks and pop-poms sometimes separately and other times together to create different textures in their pictures.

They mixed colors to see what would happen in when they dipped these various items into the different trays.  It's so great when science and art blend together!




My favorite activity this week was our Bubble Painting!  This is a technique we have seen at Make a Messterpiece in Glenview though we used teachers instead of machines to blow water-colored bubbles around the room as the preschoolers caught them on paper.  



This is such a great science experiment as much as it is art because as you blow bigger bubbles or smaller bubbles, the amount of color on the paper changes.  This is one of the reasons this is such an exciting activity to do!  


If the weather makes a turn for the better, grab some water colored paint (food dye works but stains clothes) and blow bubbles while the kids run around the yard catching them for you on paper.  EVERYONE will have a blast and it will be hard for you not to ask your child if you can have a turn as 'catcher'.

After getting all cleaned up, we sang songs like the Hokey Pokey, Head Shoulders, Knees and Toes and other classics.  We played instruments this week and practiced keeping rhythm with various songs playing in the room.

We talk about process vs product in education and art is one of the best ways you can see these two forms of education in action.  One product we asked the children to create was a sheep out of cotton balls in the morning and an umbrella with raindrops in the afternoon.  They were given an example and all the correct materials and then were asked to recreate it.  This was a process to check for understanding of creating the same product.  When they painted anything they wanted, that was just for process purposes to use creativity. 

Our preschoolers were also given artwork of a farm (drawn by a preschool teacher) and then they were allowed to add to the farm coloring the corn, trees and field anything they wanted and adding animals throughout the picture to make their artwork their own.  Some preschoolers also included their own drawings of Spider-man among the cows, pigs and tractors.  Creativity while producing in this instance.

As Palatine Pirates we lucked out to get the chance to visit our orchestra room in the morning and afternoon.  

We heard songs like "Mary Had a Little Lamb," Itsy, Bitsy Spider," and were able to dance the "Chicken Dance" and "If You're Happy and You Know It."  Thanks to the PHS Orchestra for allowing us to hear such fun music this week!

Before heading home we try to get some of the 'wiggles' out.  We played bean bag games with artwork created by teachers as well as a color matching bean bag toss.

Our creative preschoolers presented their Star of the Week posters to share with the class.  We are nearing the end of our presentations as we near the end of the school year.  Remember our preschool graduation will be on May 23rd.  We will have a change of times that day to account for only the preschool graduation ceremony and a short party afterward.

What's Coming Up?

We have 3 weeks left of preschool!  Next week we will be talking about all those we love in our lives like Mother's, Father's and Grandparents.  Since Mother's Day is around the corner, we will talk about the great women in our lives, but we can't leave out the dads and grandparents which is why we will cover all areas of family who help and love us.

Preschool Graduation will be on Friday, May 23rd.  We do a full out cap and gown ceremony with the preschoolers followed by a short reception.  Details will be coming home about the party this week but please note times will be different since this is a special day.